In a statement released shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, police said 28-year-old Raymone Harding of Gaithersburg, Md., was arrested earlier that day and charged with simple assault in connection with the attack against Miles Denaro, 24.

Denaro told police and the Blade that the two women dragged him by his hair across the floor at Manny & Olga’s pizza carry out restaurant at 1841 14th St., N.W., while they punched and kicked him in the face and body. He said the assault began after the women made fun of his makeup and one of them touched his face and the other slapped him.

He said he was dressed as a woman when he entered the restaurant shortly after finishing a drag performance at the nearby Black Cat nightclub.

A video taken of the incident, which was posted on at least three websites, including briefly on YouTube, shows bystanders laughing and cheering while employees of the restaurant look on without trying to stop the altercation.

“At that time, with my face on the ground in her legs, the only thing to help get out of it was to bite her,” Denaro told the Blade.

The police report filed by the second woman identifies her as Rachel Manna Sahle, 22, also of Gaithersburg.

The police statement announcing the arrest says the case remains under investigation.

A video of the altercation involving drag performer Miles Denaro early Sunday morning at Manny & Olga’s pizzeria on 14th Street, N.W., shows these two women assaulting Denaro as one of them drags him by his hair across the floor. (Screen captures)

LGBT activists noted that the assault against Denaro was one of six incidents over an eight-day period beginning June 21 in which two transgender women were shot and wounded, a lesbian was shot to death, two other trans women were stabbed and another was sexually assaulted. Police said the sexual assault took place after the woman got into the suspect’s car at the time she met him on the street in the 300 block of 61st Street, N.E. about 3:30 a.m. Saturday, June 29.

Police have said only one of the six incidents were being investigated as a possible hate crime. The other cases appear to be linked to robbery attempts or personal disputes, police said.

Some LGBT activists dispute that assessment, saying they believe several of the victims were targeted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Lou Chibbaro Jr. has reported on the LGBT civil rights movement and the LGBT community for more than 30 years, beginning as a freelance writer and later as a staff reporter and currently as Senior News Reporter for the Washington Blade. He has chronicled LGBT-related developments as they have touched on a wide range of social, religious, and governmental institutions, including the White House, Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, the military, local and national law enforcement agencies and the Catholic Church. Chibbaro has reported on LGBT issues and LGBT participation in local and national elections since 1976. He has covered the AIDS epidemic since it first surfaced in the early 1980s.
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Cam

The other woman who filed a police report claiming SHE was attacked. Will she also be charged with filing a false police report? And they called her tranny etc… while they were attacking, why is this simple assault and not a hate crime? Are the DC police saying that attacking somebody based on their sexual gender orientation is NOT a hate crime?

Miss Lu Lu Hogg

Thank you Dominic for clarifying, the Drag Queen identifies as a male, not a tranny. I’m glad the police caught these savages and they aren’t D.C. residents. They were wrong for getting in this man’s or Drag Queen’s face. People need to mind their business and live their own lives.

Kayla Baker

As a transgendered woman this type of bs is a constant worry to me. That being said, if these ladies accosted me like that there’d be 2 ladies in the hospital for multiple stab wounds and a restaurant sued for doing absolutely nothing to stop it.

Mason Tiergas

Given all the violence directed at the GLBT (queer) community, does anyone find ironic or distasteful for Chief of Police Lanier to commend GLBT police task force as she did recently? When the going gets rough, the tough get their picture in the press! The DC community deserves better.

Dwayne Daughtry

the person that recorded the video and posted to a commercial site should have been criminally charged. He was more concerned about posting a video and getting credit from another commercial site rather than turn the evidence over to authorities.